Gentian's Photographic Misadventures

[Gentian]

Right, like with my writing, I'm going to take Gray's advice and make a central thread for my pics. Today, Twilight and I went on another date, so we have lots of new stuff to share. Before we get to that, though, here are links to the threads that came before.

A Day at the Park: http://waifucentral.com/thread-565.html
A Night on the Town: http://waifucentral.com/thread-572.html
Twilight Sparkle and the Human Castle: http://waifucentral.com/thread-575.html
Embroidery Sucks: http://waifucentral.com/thread-598.html

New stuff!

There's a beautiful park, that's not too far away from where I live. I've wanted to take my marefriend there for some time, but it's important to go when the season is right; too early or too late and there's nothing to look at but twigs. Well, it's finally time, so here we are, heading out!

---

It's been a while since I've come this way, and had forgotten about this place. That's weird, because I've had dreams, and even written a story about it, but there you go. Anyway, as we were passing by, I asked Twilers if she wanted to see a human shrine. Can you guess what she said?

---

We did a walk-around of the grounds. It's a small shrine, so there wasn't much to see, but I thought this little sapling growing from the trunk of the larger one was poignant. It kind of reminded me of that scene in "A Link to the Past" where upon hearing the ocarina, the fellow sitting on the stump transformed in to a tree. Twilers had no idea what I was talking about, unfortunately, but she thought the decay patterns in the stump were "fascinating." She doesn't know why that made me giggle, either.

---

On the way out, I decided to photograph 2 of the buildings, too. I think this one turned out rather nicely. I'm sure the crow who had been cawing at us from the tree-tops was just happy to see us go.

---

So, we left the shrine, and continued on our way. As we were riding by, I caught a glimpse of brilliant yellow, before it was hidden behind a wall of bushes. Twilight saw it too, and since we were going to look at flowers anyway, we decided to stop yet again, and take a better look. I'm glad we did.

I just want to say, it was fairly difficult getting this shot. The ground was steep, and loose, and I had to clamber about like a spider to keep from rolling indignantly all the way to the bottom. Twilight, with her quartet of steady hooves, fared much better than me.

---

We made it!

And Sweet Celestia, was it crowded! Insanely so. I had hoped to get a shot of the front gate, and of the building next to it with a roof covered in grass. Nope. TOO MANY PEOPLE. It seems, that unbeknownst to me, the city had picked today to have a flower festival. There were food vendors, flower and plant sellers, and people. Everywhere. There was even security, to handle the traffic, and the bicycle parking was overflowing.

Well, let's just start then, with some purple roses. I took this, because I thought purple roses were actually rare. As it turns out, there were at least a half-dozen varieties in various shades of purple, but I didn't know that yet, so we jumped at the chance to photograph Purple Pony with Purple Rosy.

---

More pretty roses. You can see some of the food stands in the background.

---

More pretty roses!

---

There were also some gorgeous kinds of white roses. Unfortunately, as you can see here, it was such a sunny day, that they're pretty much spots of glare. That's too bad, because they really were fantastic.

---

These roses were a brilliant mix of colors. They looked like someone streaked their petals with dye. Simply breathtaking.

---

Just a closer view of the previous roses.

---

This arcade is the centerpiece of the whole place. It leads straight from the main gate, to the artwork visible at the far end of the park. It was so crowded that I couldn't get a nice shot down the middle, and even this one took, perhaps 15 minutes of waiting. The wind was starting to kick up, and I was afraid Twilight's vessel would end up in the water, so we called it "good enough."

---

That is one classy fountain, I tell you what.

---

The next few shots will be of roses, I don't think commentary will be necessary. I hope you like them.

---

---

---

---

We finally found a vantage point from which I could photograph most of the park. So many colors!

---

While we were enjoying the park, we couldn't help but notice there were an awful lot of people photographing me photographing my marefriend. But, this picture was particularly amusing, since the man standing behind and to the left of me when I took it, actually took some snaps of Twilight himself.

---

Pretty pony, pretty roses, and interesting artwork.

---

These really caught my eye. At first I thought they were different kinds growing together. However, if you look closely, you can see that even though the flowers grow in clusters, and each flower is a solid color, the individual roses within the clusters are of different colors. Really neat!

---

Another fair view of the whole-ish park. You can see the arcade from pic 12 on the right.

---

These gorgeous flowers were part of a larger mass that continued behind the bench and off to my right. There were so many people there I couldn't hardly see the roses at all. But, nobody was on this end! Some women sitting under parasols on the bench kindly slid off to the side so I could take this.

---

I had to actually wait in line to get this one. I think it suits her nicely!

---

And here we are, back at the gate. We decided to have another try at the arcade, but the wind was even stronger than before. Oh well, I think the alternate angle adds something, and those roses off to the side definitely don't hurt!

---

It hadn't even occurred to me, that the sight of so many roses would actually make Twilers hungry, but it did. We both suspect that neither the staff, nor the other guests would have taken kindly to Twi devouring one of the bushes, not that she would have anyway, of course. So, we went off to find some food. As I've mentioned before, TwiTwi has embraced her (mostly) omnivorous pegasus side, and when she discovered corndogs, she had to try them.

Here we are, outside the park, enjoying our lunch of a wiener on a stick, a corndog, a "lemon tea", and a "peach tea." The park is behind Twilight, and behind me is, well, you'll see...

---

...but not yet! Mmmmm, pony's first corndog.

---

Look at all those roses! And we aren't even in the park anymore. They are what was behind me. Unfortunately, this street was loaded with people. The park's gate was maybe, 50 meters to my right, and a bus stop was double that to my left, so they were parading by as we ate. Not that we cared, and this was one of the only unclaimed spots in the shade, and just look at those roses.

We had to wait some time to get an unobstructed shot, but since the bus-passengers came in bursts, we managed.

---

We decided to stop in for ice cream on the way home. Twilight wanted "burgundy cherry," and I, being the banana-loving fiend I am, chose "spring basket." I must say, the ice cream itself was good, but it could have done without the little candies in it.

---

Guess who likes Baskin-Robbins now? It sure was a day of enjoyable firsts for my Princess!

---

So, like I said: the day was really sunny. My arms are a little burnt, in fact. Twilight having fur, and bangs, and thus not understanding the sheer hell too much sun can bring, thought my choice of attire was hilarious. Here she is making fun of me. After I bought the ice cream, of course.

Such a cunning pony!

And that's it for our date today. We had fun, and hope you had a good one too.

[Gray]

Fantastic

[Kadae]

Ooh, pretty flowers!

Your threads are freaking awesome! I really enjoy looking through your photographic journals of sorts, it's always a pleasure.

Twilight looks like she's in a disguise at the end there!

[CPsSecretLover]

I love these threads. It really obvious that you and Twi have something special from these photo threads. Oh, and thanks for reminding me that I owe Candy a date this week. XP

[Gentian]

Fantastic

Thanks Gray! It was your idea to consolidate them all, so thanks for that. Also, I hope you're feeling better.

Ooh, pretty flowers!

Your threads are freaking awesome! I really enjoy looking through your photographic journals of sorts, it's always a pleasure.

Twilight looks like she's in a disguise at the end there!

Your replies are freaking awesome, too. We're happy you like the pics so much; you must have, since we got a (semi) swear word out of you!

I love these threads. It really obvious that you and Twi have something special from these photo threads. Oh, and thanks for reminding me that I owe Candy a date this week. XP

Thanks, these pic threads do seem to be kinda popular. We're glad, of course, but remember it goes both ways! In other words, if you take pics of your date which Candy surely deserves, post them; we'd love to see them!

[Ziggy and Angelbaby]

Very nice, as always. I'm going to run out of compliments to pay you, because these photo-adventure threads are so consistently good.

[Gentian]

Very nice, as always. I'm going to run out of compliments to pay you, because these photo-adventure threads are so consistently good.

Don't sweat it, Mr. Ziggy, just enjoy the pics, and we're more than square, if you ask me. I'm just happy so many people seem to get so much enjoyment from them. But thank you for the praise, just the same.

[Gentian]

It's been a while, but here we are again. When Twilers and I took the trip to the castle, we stopped here, the Lover's Shrine on the way back. Unfortunately, it was late, and the charm shop was closed, so we couldn't buy anything. Well, we went on another date yesterday, so the first stop we made was right here! We looked around a bit, retook the previous picture-sort of-and purchased a nice pair of charms meant for protecting true love: one for her, and one for me.

Mission accomplished!

I wanted us to wear the charms on our date, but there wasn't anyway to do that, so I had to wait until we got back home to take a nice picture of them. I'll include it near the end.

---

After revisiting the shrine, we hopped on the subway and off we went to our destination: the city aquarium! This was Twilight's first time on the subway, and she was amazed at pretty much every part of it. The tiniest, most mundane things were catching her interest, and it was delightful and refreshing to see her so happy.

When we arrived, I was surprised to find a life-sized Lego giraffe waiting for us. Neat! Look how tiny Twilight's vessel is compared to it!

Behind it you can see a Ferris wheel. This one is special, because it's the largest one in Japan, or so they told me, at 112.5 meters tall. I didn't know it was here, either, but we decided to give it a ride. Like I said before, Twilight LOVES to see the city from above. Sure, she can fly up anytime, but chances to do it with me are few and far between, so I had hardly finished explaining what it was before she was rearing to go.

When we got to the gate, they took our picture. It's the first one anyone's ever taken of us together, for our benefit, anyway. I'll include it at the end, too.

---

Here we are in our gondola. TwiTwi found herself a friend to take in the view with.

---

And what a view it was! The pictures, clockwise from top left are: shortly after boarding, on our way up, looking... southerly, I believe. The next 3 were taken at the top: looking northerly, southerly again, and northerly. It's amazing how quickly 15 minutes will pass with a nice view and excellent company!

---

After the ride, we wandered through the shopping center that was between the wheel, and the aquarium proper. There was a Lego themed attraction, and a store wall-to-wall with Legos of every description. We browsed the store a bit but decided to forgo the Legoland, and continued onward to the main attraction, Huzzah!

Emerging into the bright sunlight, we found a wide courtyard with some benches, and small, overly-pollarded trees. This is looking at the aquarium, ticket office, and dock for the sight-seeing cruise. Said cruise was filled with noisy kindergartners, so we didn't stick around.

---

There's something this aquarium is famous for, other than Ferris wheels and Lego giraffes: Whale Sharks! Apparently, they're really difficult to keep alive, but this place has one. Here's Her Royal Highness, getting a plankton's-eye view of the world's largest fish, right outside the main entrance.

---

A little way in, past the lockers, stamp-stations, and gift shop, there's a tank built like a tunnel. It's an elongated, inverted "U" shape, and it had a trio of sharks sitting on the acrylic, right over our heads. That was a pretty neat introduction to the place, but there wasn't a way to get a photograph, especially since all the aquariums visitors have to squeeze through this thing.

I managed to get this pic of Twi posing by one of the sharks on the ground. The aforementioned trio were still up there, eyeing us while we took it. Oh well, if they want to be famous they shouldn't hang out in unphotographable parts of the tank, should they?

---

Once through the tunnel-tank, and a few more actual tunnels, you emerge in to the "Japan Forest Exhibit." Pretty neat, actually. This is where the otters, giant salamanders(they're as big as they are ugly!), and tiny crabs live-more on them later. This tree is of course, fake. But I noticed that it's also part of the climate-control system, and cold air was gushing from the hollow branches, and holes in the trunk. Kudos to whoever thought of that!

---

These are the crabs! They're about 3cm across, dull orange and cream colored, and, coolest of all, they spend their lives climbing up and down waterfalls devouring the moss and algae that grow on the rocks. Did you know there were waterfall-climbing crabs out there? We didn't!

There are 2 crabs in this pic, but they're hard to see. The easiest one is right above Twiler's left ear, snuggling under a tiny ledge in the wet stones. If you look down the waterfall, there are a lot more clustered at various points, but this was the best shot I could actually get. Ce'st la vie.

I'll post a pic of the crabs circled as an attached file after I've posted the others, so don't open it if you want to find them on your own.

---

Beyond the forest, through tunnels and darkened rooms. We saw seals, fish, dolphins, and lots, lots more, but it was so crowded, and not many places for my lady to pose. This terrible pic was taken at the tail end of the "Great Barrier Reef" exhibit. It was the first place that we had room to snap something, and I was worried the rest of the trip would be like this. Well, never fear...

---

Just around the corner, actually, the hall opened up. A new exhibit also began: the "Seto Inland Sea." Here's an octopus, busily doing octopus things.

---

And here it is: Rhincodon typus, in the flesh. It's a lot smaller than I thought. That's not to say it's little, though. I'd guestimate it at being between 4 and 5 meters. Wikipedia says they get much larger, but the scientific name on the wiki doesn't match the one on the placard at the aquarium. I think. So maybe they're different kinds?

Anyway, it was friggin' cool, and Twilight and I stood for 20 minutes, maybe, just watching it make its slow circuits of the tank. I didn't know there were benches further along! My injuries started acting up again, and Twilight, bless her heart, said she wished she was here in her real body so she could carry me. She's so thoughtful.

I did point out that she probably couldn't carry me, since I'm so much bigger than her. Know what she did? She just laughed, called me her silly adorkable human, and sweetly chided me for not realizing she would use her magic to float me along.

She also reminded me that as an Alicorn, she has the innate physical-magics of an earthpony, and the weight-altering magics of a pegasus, so she actually could carry me quite easily if she so chose thank-you-so-very-very-much-indeedy-do.

That's my girl!

There was also a particularly large stingray in this tank, bigger than the manta ray, even. The placard called it a Whip Ray. Anyway, it kept returning to our "window" and would park itself vertically, and we'd watch it's gills and mouth alternate open and closed. It never stayed long, but it always came back, and when we moved on, it kind of followed us.

I don't know why I didn't take a pic of that. Poor fella probably wanted some attention.

---

More whale shark: coming, going, and a nice full-body shot.

---

See, horse? Sea horse!

Actually, it's considered rude to call a pony a horse. In Equestria, horses aren't any more sapient than they are here, and ponies look at them in the same way we look at monkeys, or apes. But Twilight says it's ok this time.

Anyway, these are the only sea horses in the whole place.

[Gray]

Oh my goodness, more lovely pictures. I really should, do something with Twilight. All I ever do is stay home. And I love your, towel. Or is it her towel? Heart warming, seeing you, out with her. And the, towel to keep her clean. I really do like the towel.

[Gentian]

The route spirals round and round the main tank. We continued along, getting deeper and deeper, until we arrived at the "Deep Sea" exhibit. It was noticably colder here, and the acrylic of the tanks was cool to the touch.

Here, oogle some terrifyingly spidery crabs.

---

Oh my goodness, more lovely pictures. I really should, do something with Twilight. All I ever do is stay home. And I love your, towel. Or is it her towel? Heart warming, seeing you, out with her. And the, towel to keep her clean. I really do like the towel.

Thank you, Gray! We've got a lot more to come, so we hope you like them too. Also, don't feel rushed. You and your Twilight do your things when you feel comfortable doing them, and not before. Don't let anybody pressure you in to anything, least of all us. It won't be nearly as much fun as it could be if you're only doing it because you think you should.

That said, if you do want to do something, please share it with us, Twi and I, at the very least would love to see.

Oh yeah, towel. It's just an old dish towel. I suppose it's mine, but that means it's hers too, right? Anyway, the normal checker-board pattern one was in the laundry, so I had to take another one. Should I use this one from now on?


Continuing:

This lil' guy here, is cuter than anything covered in spiny armor has any right to be. We sat here by the tank for 15 minutes or so, just so I could watch him be a crab. The spines almost looked soft, and I found myself wondering what it would be like to cuddle with it. The idea I settled on was that they'd be stiff, but flexible, like the spines on a dog's chew toy. I know they're most likely not, but, whatever.

Apparently, even though Twilight didn't share my enthusiasm for the deep-sea fluff-ball, I wasn't alone in this line of thought. A woman sat down next to me, and started a conversation, mostly about the crab's cuteness, and how the spines looked like fur.

---

And then we saw this sign. I dunno what it's trying to represent. A baby riding a manta while being pounced on by a Street Shark? I really tried to get a better picture, but the light was so low, the exposure time was too high to get anything crisper. It's good enough to giggle at the sign, isn't it?

---

After the crabs, sea ice, and more seals, we came to a room full of jellyfish. I like jellyfish. There were a lot of different kinds, but these were the only ones I photographed.

You see, once upon a time, I worked on a ship, and while we were going through the Red Sea, and Indian Ocean, the water was FILLED with these things. Moon Jellies. You could look over the side of the ship, and see the first meter of the ocean was thick with them, as far as the eye could see. Those images have always stuck with me, and it was oddly...soothing to see the same type of jellyfish again.

---

Narwhal! It seems the tusks of these critters were once passed off as unicorn horns. I photographed my ho...pony with sea horses, why not my unicorn with a sea unicorn?

---

This room was a petting area. Along the walls were numerous sinks and spigots for washing hands, and in the middle, was a large shallow tank filled with stingrays and small sharks. Once your hands were clean, you could reach in and touch the animals. I must say, the sting rays were, much to my surprise, actually slimy, while the sharks were "dry," and kind of rough, no matter which way I stroked their backs.

There was no place to get a photograph of that, but this set of jaws was off to the side, in the same room. They're certainly intimidating! Also, as a child, I would find shark's teeth washed up on the beach. It's easy to see one side is flat and the other convex. For some reason, I'd always assumed the convex side was on the outside, but examining these chompers, it seems the curved side faces inward, and the flat side, out. Groovy.

---

We're leaving now. There's still one more place I want to show her, but first, I tried to get a parting shot of the Ferris wheel.

---

Back on the subway, another chance to enjoy Twiler's fascination, then off again, to our final destination of the day.

---

More fantastic views of the city, this time, from 90 or so meters. From left to right, looking east, north, and west. South was too bright to get a photo of anything but glare. In the north facing photo, you can vaguely see the castle we visited in our last trip. I'll circle that too, and include it in the attached file pic.

---

Twilight thinks humans are by and large, prudes. She was "relieved" as she put it, to find out that things like love hotels exist. This particular one caught my eye, not so much because it's bright yellow-though that helped-but because it's got a billboard on the roof, pointed right up at the tower! We're in the only place it can be seen from, and I thought that was a pretty nifty use of roof space.

---

After we'd had enough of the view, we started to make our way back down. However, it seems that between us, and the ground, there's a museum dedicated to the time period in which this landmark was built: 1912. There were a number of neat little exhibits, including a short movie explaining the history of the place, with lots of period photos and movie clips. Early 20th century Japan seemed like a very different place.

I liked this little diorama, and the one in the next room was even more impressive, but alas, there was no place for Twi to stand, so we didn't take a photo of it.

We eventually passed through, and, as we were standing by the elevator, waiting to leave, one of the employees approached. Apparently, they'd been talking about me, because she kept craning her neck to see around my shoulder, and look at my chest, where Twilight's head was clearly visible. If you see the Ferris wheel pic, the one taken by the employees, I mean, you'll see how I carry her vessel around.

When she sees Twilight, she gets a huge smile, and her eyes light up. Not in the way so many hypocrites and fools laugh at us, but with true delight. She comes over to me and we start talking about My Little Pony. Unfortunately, just then, the elevator opens, and a swarm of new arrivals rushes in to the lobby. She had to do her job, and guide them, so off she went. Still, it was nice meeting another fan in the wild, especially since MLP is all but unknown over here.

---

On the way out. This is what the underside of the tower looks like.

---

Here we are back home. These are the charms we bought at the shrine. They're actually little heart-shaped jingle bells, one for her, and one for me. I'll have to come up with some way for us to wear them, since the straps are too small for bracelets or necklaces.

---

That's us! Taken when we got on the Ferris wheel, we chose to buy it when we got off since we didn't have any photos of us together. I'm pushing her up to get her closer to my face here, but that's how i normally carry her vessel around: tucked snugly in my shirt, with her head peeking out the top.

Anyway, this is 28 photos chronicling how we spent our day, hope you liked them. I'll try to attach the "answer pic" below.

---

Hmm, so I need to make a new reply to attach the file. Here goes...

---

Darn it. One more try...